oldcutlass

Well the 67 has had an intermittant back firing problem for the last few months and I figured possibly an advance plate issue in the distributor. So I call my local Oreileys and find out I can get a whole newly rebuilt dist. for $55.99 with a $5.00 core charge for the original. So I spend 2.5 hours and a full can of penetrating oil trying to get the bugger out, and then 15 mins to install and set the new one. Man everything was running great, smooth, almost like a re-incarnation of a new car. By the way I kept the points!!! I like them.

So there I was tooling around on the third day and it's spitting and sputtering. I was at work so I gapped them with a matchbook. Borrowed a timing light from 1 of the mechanics at my dealership. No one had a dwell meter (go figure). Got it running pretty good, started it up a few times thru the day before I took the long 3.5 mile drive back to the house. All was good. I decided to leave during daylight just in case it gave me trouble on the way home.

Sure enough, get about 3/4's of the way there and it wants to die. So Limp it towards home, and it dies on the long hill going down to my driveway.

OK, so here I am 20 mins before dark:30 with my dwell meter, and its all over the place. So I pull the new points and conderser out and replace it with the unipoints pack from the old dist. Get the wife to crank while I tuned the adj screw for the points and she kicks right over. SOoo I drive it up my driveway and put her up for the night.

Well they can't just exchange pts and condensor they want to order me a new dist. Ain't working on old cars grand!!

gearheads78

Pertronix and be done with it.

oldcutlass

I've been stranded on the side of the road with a pertronix kit. The points I know are old school but I'm more comfortable with em. I can carry an extra set in the trunk.

Bluevista

x2 on Pertronix.

64Rocket

x3 on the Pertronix




Gene

Yellowstatue

X4 on the Pertronix; but I also have a Crane Fireball in the other car and carry a set of points and condenser in a baggie in the glove box just in case...

MDchanic

Okay, now that enough people have chimed in for Pertronix, I have to register my vote as the contrarian .

The points worked fine for about forty years. There is nothing inherently wrong with their design. And your symptoms are those of something wrong, not of just having points.

Yes, Pertronix is undoubtedly superior from a technological and performance standpoint, but, you should be able to get perfectly good performance with points, so long as you keep them adjusted.

Really, you've got to look at your system and figure out what is (or what you're doing) wrong.

If it's doing this with different points sets and different distributors, then you need to consider whether the problem is somewhere else. You also need to use an organized system to figure out exactly what's wrong. Carry your dwell meter and check your dwell angle whenever you get a chance, as well as when you've got a problem, before you try to fix it. You'll be able to see whether the points are closing up (or opening up). How are your points rubbing blocks? Are they properly lubed? Are they wearing? Are all your screws holding tight? Could this be a totally unrelated problem masquerading as a points problem?

I'd get this nailed down first, then decide on improvements, like Pertronix.

- Eric

Destructor

I find that getting a descent set of points isn't a problem but I don't think anyone makes a quality condenser anymore. I now carry a spare condenser and I have it mounted on the coil for easy exchange with a spare that I carry. I drove a 72 Eldorado for years with a points ignition and they never let me down. I also use vacuum tube electronics.

MDchanic

Agreed. You're better almost all the time to just keep an original condenser, and keep the new one semi-hooked-up, as you are, as a spare.

The old ones seldom go.

The new ones are often bad out of the box (it's happened to me twice).

- Eric

oldcutlass

As I've only returned to the car hobby over the last 5 years after a 17 year hiatus, I see alot of improvements in technology. However, like I said sometimes tech creates its own inherent failure problems on the road. I prefer the points, as I've found over the years, the inherent simplicity in ease of troubleshooting to be a perk. The performance quality of the old style ignition systems is the basically the same as the new tech. The only difference is a few minutes of calibration due to wear periodically over time. I decided to go with a rebuilt dist. due to cost, rebuilding the old one would have cost far more in time and $$$$$ compared to $55.99 of the rebuilt one. And, like I said for 3 days it ran like a new car before the part failure.
Well the new parts will be in this evening and I plan on working on it Sunday, or possibly Saturday evening. I am 99% sure it is the points or condensor causing the problem.
I do thank all of you for the suggestions of the pertronix systems!

71 Cutlass

Pertronix always worked for 10 months then failed. I've gone to HEI and never looked back. In retrospect points set up was never a problem.

oldcutlass

Well I installed the new rebuilt dist. today, reset dwell and timing. I drove the car approx 40 miles today. So far so good!!!!

bkeese

I think Eric nailed it. I've never experienced it but had heard if not properly lubed the rubbing block can wear with a few miles.

oldcutlass

Well its been 2 weeks, I believe it was a bad condensor. Believe me there was plenty of lube in there, I had to clean some of it off before install.

joe_padavano

What kind of shape is your coil in? That's where I'd be looking.

oldcutlass

It is running fine now, with the ocaisional backfire out the exhaust when starting. The problem I believe was the new condensor that caused all the mess from the original post. The coil is pretty old but still seems to function correctly. I have a new cap and rotor to install on Sunday, the wires are not very old.

We'll see if that corrects the backfire problem.

MDchanic

I just can't resist...

tinner

Years back I was having problems with my points. I would set them and at higher rpms, it would start to break up. After replacing points a couple of times, I yanked the disributor. Bushings were bad in the distributor. Maybe you should look at this ? It was causing them to fluctuate. At idle I could set them just fine, once it started spinning faster...I had trouble.

oldcutlass

Do you people actually read all the posts before you throw your 2 cents in????

SBORule

No, I skip what everyone else post and just give you my 2 cents worth, sometimes a dimes worth.

Put a new HEI distribitor in it and throw the one you got in a box for the future owner should you sell your car down the road.

You can get one from China on ebay for around $60 and it will have a polished shaft, 50,000 volt internal coil and a new red cap with brass inserts and rotor. They come with an adjustable timing curve that you can set with the included allen wrench but you will find they come spot on and won't want to screw with it.

Hook up a postive and ground and you'll be running like new.

MDchanic

An exhaust backfire on starting could well reflect raw fuel pumped into the exhaust pipes. This could be from an extra-rich starting condition because of a non-functional choke pull-off or similar problem. May not be electrical at all if all else is well...

- Eric

oldcutlass

It only backfires (not all the time) upon cold starts, overnight or several hours of sitting. It will do it with or without setting the choke!

When its hot no problems!